Hayes detailed and critical analyses of early language learning policies in six different countries Thailand, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Finland, and Canada beautifully and powerfully illustrate the complex realities and importance of situating policies in specific societal and linguistic contexts. This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in language education policies. * Yuko Goto Butler, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, USA * I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because it educated me about little-known contexts of early language education, thereby critically analysing and partly dissecting the political, economic and educational rationales underlying policies and practice of early language learning. The spirit of equity and justice ingrained in many aspects of the analysis and argumentation in this book is admirable. * Eva Wilden, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany * This book brings alive the vital role of the socio-educational context on the success, or otherwise, of foreign language learning in primary school. The book bristles with research insights from a range of contexts and provides a solid basis for re-imagining language education in state-sector primary education globally. It is a wonderful resource for language policy makers, researchers, teachers, and teacher educators. * Kuchah Kuchah, University of Leeds, UK *
